Ann Barnhardt pulls no punches. mmm…mmm…mmm. No siree. Reading her is like taking a mega-vitamin for the soul. Or a jolt of Red Bull mixed with a chaser of Monster. You’ll come away energized, or shocked into a premature heart attack.

Now, because she still hasn’t moved her website to one that assigns a permanent link to each of her posts, once they roll off Ann’s web page they’re gone from view and no longer accessible.

So before this one scrolls into oblivion…. here’s her latest piece on Catholicism and the bad guys.

On Bishops, Sanduskys, Showers and Decisions

Posted by Ann Barnhardt – February 19, AD 2012 8:13 PM MST

A couple of wrap-up points on the Dolan post from yesterday. First, a reader in New York City who lives just a stone’s throw away from the St. Francis Xavier parish emailed immediately with a confirming anecdote. She went to Mass there ONCE, and in the middle of the Mass, in a clear bow to the lesbian witch/wicca contingent, the congregants were told to stand and together “turn to the four directions”. The reader refused to partake in pagan rubrics (naturally) and just stood still – but that tells you a little more of how profaned these Masses are.

I do have one more bit of evidence for you. If you go to the website for the St. Francis Xavier parish in NYC and click on the “Parish Groups” link, you will see a drop-down menu with the following links:

The “Catholic Lesbians” and “Gay Catholics” groups, while horrific, aren’t at all surprising. The “Young Adults” and “Youth Ministry” groups make my flesh crawl. Who would send their child to a youth group in THAT PARISH? It makes me sick to think of it. But what I really wanted to point out is the “Zen Meditation” group. Okay. Stop. WHAT THE HELL.

Do you guys know what Buddhism is, what the core theology is? Buddhism is an offshoot of Hinduism, and both systems are basically a denial that there is any reality, and thus men are seeking a perfect state of enlightenment called “nirvana”, which is total, complete nothingness. Zen meditation is attempting to “touch and embrace the nothingness”.

Aside from being stupid (stick your hand in a wood chipper and then tell me that there is no reality), this is in total, complete opposition to Christianity, wherein God Himself has revealed Himself as “I AM WHO AM”, in other words, God is Pure Existence. There is reality, because God Himself IS that Reality, and we are created by Him, through Him, with Him and in Him, to love and serve Him and be loved by Him and be happy with Him forever.

Buddhism and Zen meditation are an explicit denial of the existence of God, and thus strike at the very heart of EVERYTHING the Church teaches. I heard it once well-described as: Hinduism and Buddhism say, “Is, is not.” Christianity says, “I AM WHO AM.” To have a Zen meditation group in a Catholic parish is utter insanity. Again, WHY ISN’T THIS GARBAGE BEING CORRECTED? Because Dolan is a politicking, back-slapping phony who only cares about being “liked” and cheered. He doesn’t give a flip about these poor people, who so desperately, desperately need to hear the truth and be pulled out of the jaws of the enemy.

Which brings us, once again, to the point that our nation and civilization will ultimately turn upon. Do you, or do you not, worship Jesus Christ? If so, the LAST THING that could POSSIBLY be in your mind is to abandon Him while He is under attack and being betrayed by His own. The only way that a Dolan or any other clergyman could inspire a person to leave the Church is if the person worshiped the clergy, and not Christ, which implies that the person does not believe in the Real Presence of the Eucharist – and that’s really it right there. No one who believes in the Real Presence of the Eucharist could EVER leave the Church. Period. And, no person who believed in the Real Presence of the Eucharist, given that knowledge, could ever NOT ENTER the Church (girl raises hand).

If you think about it, worshiping the “clergy” is extremely common today. The Joel Osteen cult worships Joel Osteen. The Eddie Long cult in Atlanta worships Eddie Long. The Jimmy Swaggart mess worships Jimmy Swaggart. Super-fun rockband church worships itself. And sadly, there are Catholics out there who left the Church because they fell for the enemy’s lie that the Church and the Mass are all about “us”, or about a cult of personality surrounding some priest or bishop. When the group or some awful cleric pissed them off, they left, because they were never there for Jesus Christ in the first place. Eucharist? What? Real Presence? What? Sacrifice of the Mass? Huh? Calvary made present on the altar? What? I’m just there for the music and the socializing.

A few months ago when the whole Penn State/Sandusky mess exploded, I made a post about the sickening cowardice of men in today’s culture, using the assistant coach, Mike McQueary, as the perfect example. Mike McQueary walked in on Jerry Sandusky raping a ten year old boy in the Penn State showers. He stood there staring at Sandusky and the child. Both Sandusky and the child turned and looked at McQueary and both made eye contact. McQueary then RAN AWAY, leaving a ten year old boy to continue being raped. The point I made was that from the boy’s perspective, the greater wound probably came from McQueary, not Sandusky. The child knew that Sandusky was a monster. You can get your head around that pretty easily. What must have destroyed that kid’s heart was seeing a man who COULD HAVE HELPED HIM turn and run away. There is no greater pain than to be abandoned. To abandon someone is to say to them, “YOU AREN’T WORTH IT.” That is what Mike McQueary did to that kid.

This situation is exactly the same. Our Blessed Lord is the kid in the shower – and remember that Our Lord was a ten year old boy Himself approximately 2002 years ago. You are Mike McQueary. You see what the Sanduskys of the world are doing to Him – and the analogy is very, very apt. Our Sweet Lord just takes it in silence, just like He took it in silence at the Pillar, and just like He took it in silence on the Cross. What are you going to do? Are you going to run away? Are you going to turn your back on Him and tell Him, “YOU’RE NOT WORTH IT” just like McQueary did to that kid? Christ is looking at you, right now, in this moment. Feel His gaze upon you. Are you going to abandon Him? If you do, you may just hurt Him worse than the “Sanduskys”.

Did it ever occur to you that maybe Our Lord lets these things happen so that we could have the chance to stand up for Him and show Him how much we love Him? Have you ever in your life had another person stand up for you, whether it be verbally (as in a workplace dispute) or physically (as in an actual fight or in the context of wartime combat)? NOTHING brings people closer, faster and bonds people than fighting for each other. Have you ever heard a WWII, Korea, or Vietnam Vet talk about his “buddies”? The bonds forged in combat are strong and unique in the human experience. Our Lord wants to form the bonds of combat with YOU. He loves you so much that He patiently waits for you to come to His “rescue” and fight for Him, in whatever way you can.

I don’t know which is more mind-blowing: is it the fact the Christ loves us at all, or the fact that He cares whether or not we love Him, and that we can actually increase the infinite joy of the Trinity by loving Him back, and standing up for Him, defending Him, and not abandoning Him – most especially while He is being betrayed by His own.

If I am going to error in this life, I am going to error on the side of ferocious love. What are you going to do?